02-04-2021, 12:10 PM
Quote:By Victor Ogunje
There was palpable panic in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, yesterday, when suspected armed robbers reportedly robbed some staff members of the state government of N20 million.
The civil servants, who were accountants attached to the Cabinet Department of the governor’s office, were said to have withdrawn the money belonging to the government at a new generation bank before they were robbed at gunpoint.
An eyewitness told journalists in Ado Ekiti that the victims withdrew the money from a bank on Secretariat Road in the capital city, and were returning to the governor’s office when they were waylaid by the gunmen and robbed of the huge amount of money.
He said: “The staff members were Paymasters and Accountants attached to the Cabinet Department of the governor’s office.
“They went to make withdrawal at the behest of their superior, and while returning, the robbers waylaid them at a place between the Chicken Republic and Fajuyi Park, and dispossessed them of the huge cash.”
The robbers were said to have shot into the air sporadically as they escaped through the GRA to Ilawe road.
The gunshot, according to the source, made motorists and bike riders to clear the way as they made spirited efforts to escape from the crime scene, which they succeeded.
The tension created by the news had made some banks to take strict security measures in Ado metropolis, as it was reported that it was a case of bank robbery.
But the Ekiti State Police Command allayed the fears, saying the rumoured bank robbery was untrue and baseless.
The state Police Commissioner, Babatunde Mobayo, implored members of the public to disregard “such fabricated and misleading false alarm aimed at causing unnecessary apprehension.”
Mobayo, in a statement signed by the Command spokesman, ASP Sunday Abutu, said: “For clarity, the incident that occurred today (Wednesday) in Ado-Ekiti was about a driver of a Toyota Corolla car with about three other occupants who were accosted by a group of yet-to-be-identified hoodlums and dispossessed them of some amount of money.
“Upon the receipt of the information, the Commander of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) led his operatives to the scene but by then, the hoodlums had fled the scene already.
“However, some persons have been invited by the police for interrogation and further investigation while serious effort is ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects.”
Meanwhile, the CP have appreciated the good citizens who gave the police timely information that led to the arrest of the suspected abductor who attempted to abduct some school children on January, 28, 2021, advising everyone to be wary of the people around their environs as well as promptly alert the police when suspicious persons are sighted.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/02/04/tension-in-ekiti-as-armed-robbers-snatch-n20m-from-civil-servants/amp/